


Dancing is a Dangerous Game

by ephemeralstark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Michelle Jones, College Student Peter Parker, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter goes to MIT, Strangers to Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28393038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ephemeralstark/pseuds/ephemeralstark
Summary: In hindsight, putting the Spider-Man suit in one of the communal laundry machines was probably a huge mistake, but there was no sense in dwelling on the stupidity of such an action because Peter had screwed up and now there was a stranger walking around the MIT campus with his secret identity in their laundry bag.-What is arguably Peter's biggest mistake leads to more than he could ever imagine as a disaster takes his life and heart down a route he never could have imagined.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26
Collections: Spideychelle Secret Santa - 2k20





	Dancing is a Dangerous Game

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Spideychelle Secret Santa fic for @susz13!! I hope you enjoy this and it meets your requests <3

In hindsight, putting the Spider-Man suit in one of the communal laundry machines was probably a huge mistake, but there was no sense in dwelling on the stupidity of such an action because Peter had screwed up and now there was a stranger walking around the MIT campus with his secret identity in their laundry bag.

“Oh shit,” he whispered to himself before darting out of the laundry room, only to freeze in the doorway and turn to look back at the machine that he’d left open with a bright yellow bra hanging out. 

Should he… leave that? It obviously belonged to someone and since there were only two machines in that particular room, he could only assume it belonged to whoever had stolen his Spider-Man suit, so should he make sure their laundry was somewhere safe until they were ready to collect it?

Or was that creepy? 

But what if someone else stole them? 

He had just lost his multi-million dollar superhero suit, something that could potentially be used to expose him to the entire world, but apparently, his biggest crisis of the day was whether or not to collect some random girl’s clothes. With a muffled grumble to himself, he walked back to the machine and shovelled the clothes into his own laundry bag - the bag that was  _ supposed  _ to be hiding his Spiderman-Suit from the world but like Peter, it was good at adapting. 

Would he be able to adapt to the world knowing he was Spider-Man? 

Maybe that wouldn't be necessary, after all the suit would only prove that Spider-Man was a student at MIT, but that didn't cast a neon light at him, there were tons of students that could potentially be the small hero. Except… Peter wasn't one to waste money and had made a detour to his dorm room before the laundry room to collect some of the laundry that was piling up on the chair in the corner. 

One of those items was a hoodie but not just any hoodie, it was a Midtown leavers hoodie with ‘Parker’ on the back. So unless there was another person at MIT called Parker or with that as their surname then he was pretty much fucked. 

Peter did the only thing he could… he called Ned. 

“Peter?” Ned’s voice came out slurred and confused, “what time is it?”

“Three in the morning,” Peter said, voice tense with the impact of the situation he was in, “or well, midnight for you, were you really sleeping?” 

“Of course I was, this is Harvard,” Ned mumbled, “I’m constantly exhausted.”

“I’m sorry, dude, really,” Peter apologised, “I wouldn't have called if it wasn't super important.” 

“No, no, it’s all cool, man, what’s up?” Ned asked because even though they were an entire country apart and couldn't meet up until they both went home for the holidays, they were still best friends. 

“I lost the suit,” Peter admitted. 

“You… what?” Ned suddenly sounded a lot more awake and Peter heard a small clicking noise as though his friend had turned the light on, “wha- Peter, what happened? Did Mr. Stark take it again? Did something happen?” 

“No, well, not what you think.” 

“C’mon dude, it’s  _ midnight _ , you can't make me guess,” Ned whined. 

“Alright, alright,” Peter said, pacing back and forth in front of the laundry room with the bag of not-his-clothes over his shoulder, “so I was on patrol and it was going fine, stopped a small mugging and preventing a cheese shop from being robbed, pretty quiet night, but then I tripped on a half-broken bike rail and fell into this muddy puddle.” 

“I’m not seeing a huge disaster yet,” Ned said slowly. 

“No, that wasn't the bad part,” Peter explained, “but that’s why I decided to put my Spider-Man suit into the laundry to try and clean it, but then when I came back to pick it up it was gone.” 

“Peter… you left it there?” Ned asked. 

“I know, I know, it was so stupid,” Peter muttered, tugging lightly on his curls with one hand as he continued to pace, “I should have just stayed here but I didn't.”

“Is it weird that the most surprising part of this to me is that you can machine wash that suit?” Ned asked. 

“ _ Ned! _ ” 

“Not helping, right, I know,” Ned mumbled, “alright, so you’re pretty screwed.” 

“Still not really helping,” Peter prompted. 

“Dude, I don't know what to do,” Ned said, “does Mr. Stark still have that tracker in it?”

“Yeah, but he doesn't actually keep track of me any more since I’m supposedly mature enough to take care of myself,” Peter said, voice higher pitched with worry, “and can you imagine how disappointed he would be if I told him what happened.” 

“I dunno, man, usually keeping this kind of thing from him only ends in further disappointment,” Ned reminded him. 

“No, not this time,” Peter said, “because I’m going to find it before he ever knows it’s gone.” 

“This is a terrible idea,” Ned said, “what even is your plan here? Are you going to post an ad in the school bulletin? Stick up flyers; missing: Spidey-Suit, if found please return to Peter Parker.” 

Peter paused, considering it, it wasn't actually that bad an idea. 

“Peter I was kidding,” Ned said quickly, reading the silence for what it was. 

“No, no, it’s not a completely terrible idea,” Peter said, “I mean, I’m not planning to post an ad saying ‘hi, I’m Spider-Man, please may I have my suit back?’ I’m going to be vague and hope for the best instead.” 

“You’re operating under the assumption that whoever has the suit is a decent person,” Ned said. 

“Shouldn't I just assume they are?” Peter asked, “it’s a bit judge-y of me to assume everyone is bad” 

“You literally stop criminals, Peter, if anyone is allowed to be a little jaded and cynical, it’s you,” Ned said. 

“Yeah, but I also made the decision to help people and I doubt I’m the only one in the world who wants to be a decent person,” Peter said, shrugging to himself even though he knew Ned wouldn’t be able to see it. 

“Dude, look, I know I’m all the way over here in California and stuff, but please be sensible about this,” Ned pleaded, “and if things are going south, call Mr. Stark, you and I both know he would be there in less than an hour.” 

“Exactly,” Peter exploded, “I’m eighteen now, I’m not a kid any more and yet I feel like he thinks I still need a babysitter - we’re Freshmen now, Ned, I don't need to be watched over or looked out for all the time, I’ve made a mistake and I’m well aware of it.” 

“So…” Ned seemed incredibly dubious, “you’re going to get the suit back yourself?”

“I’m going to get the suit back myself,” Peter agreed, “now I just gotta figure out who the other person doing laundry at three o’clock in the morning is and maybe I could figure out why exactly they were, but that’s not important really, but I am curious.” 

“Alright, well, good luck with that,” Ned mumbled, “I’m going to go back to sleep now, I expect regular updates but unless it’s a dire emergency, maybe we could keep the updates to the hours of daylight?”

“Yeah,” Peter said with a snort, “go back to sleep, man, I’m going to try and figure this out.” 

Peter slipped his phone back in his pocket and walked away from the laundry room and out into the cold air outside, the sky was clear and thanks to his enhanced vision, he was able to pick out a few stars twinkling down on him through the haze of light pollution that surrounded the city. 

If he looked at the block that housed all the students he could see a smattering of windows still lit up despite the late hour and a few of them were constantly flickering as though someone was watching TV or playing video games. In short, there were too many people still awake for him to easily decipher who could have potentially taken his Spider-Man suit - that was infuriating. 

“Fuck,” he groaned, running his hands through his hair and tugging lightly on his curls in frustration, “I’m so screwed.”

With a sigh of defeat and the acknowledgement that he wasn't going to be able to get his suit back instantaneously, Peter hung his head in dismay and started to slowly walk back to his dorm. Things would seem better after a sleep, he was sure of it, after all May had always said that was the case and she was seldom ever wrong. 

**Author's Note:**

> I will be posting on an almost daily basis as this is a gift! Please drop a review and let me know what you think! I appreciate all the support from you guys <3 
> 
> Come find me on tumblr @[ephemeralstark](https://ephemeralstark.tumblr.com/) :D


End file.
